I'm not sure what the fascination is with the "Superman but bad" trope. Arguably exploring the concept of a dickhead/antagonistic spin on a well known superhero works far better with someone such as Captain America, or even Iron Man. So why don't we see more of those? Is there actual merit to the concept of morally deplorable spins on famous virtuous superheroes, be they in universe doppelgangers or unrelated parody/homages, or is the entire idea just a played out gimmick for the sake of shock value?
 Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
 Tip Your Landlord Shirt $21.68 |
Nothing Ever Happens Shirt $21.68 |
Superman is the archetypal Superhero that represents both the peak of power and goodness. Playing with him as the concept is usually playing with both those concepts as well. Captain America would take on a more obvious American and Military commentary....not that Superman satires don't do that as well but it's more pointed with Cap.
Iron Man doesn't really have the same lofty concepts that his character isn't already playing with in the first place, I mean Iron Man is literally a Repentant War Profiteer from jump.
I get that Superman is the mold for pretty much every superhero to follow, thus being the target for such stories. However if one where to explore the concept of a sellout, morally questionable take on a paragon superhero, I would still think an butthole Captain America would lend itself to more credible storytelling.
>Superpowered
>A solider, meaning that he's expected to kill
>Walking propaganda piece directed by a nation's interests
>More likely to indulge in product endorsement
>PTSD and other psychological issues due to frequent combat and powers
Just a thought.
>PTSD and other psychological issues due to frequent combat and powers
That was basically Ultimate Comics caps entire schtick. That and the culture shock of being a man from WW2 in post-9/11 America.
Let's be honest. A real world captain America, that is a soldier time travelled from WW2 to the current era, would have voted for Trump and been demonized on social media, and harassed IRL for his 'outdated' views on things like free speech and religion.
Anon Captain America isn't leaning to either party. He's more concerned with the American Dream and the idea that you should have the power to vote to begin with. Don't go spouting stuff you're not fully informed about
Captain America once defended a Neo-Nazis right to free speech from a liberal social justice warrior.
Captain America 275.
I know that sounds pretty bad. But it made sense in the comic itself. Cap in the 80s was all about free speech. He hated the Nazis but he didn't want to take away their right to free speech because he felt that it would be sinking to their level.
Exactly. He ensures people have the freedom to choose, be that good or ill. Because that's what the Dream is all about: a person has the right to be who they choose to be in this life. It's messy and chaotic and borderline insane at times, but by God it's worth fighting for
3/4ths of people do not even have an internal monologue, anon.
They literally cannot make any conscious choice in a meaningful manner their entire life because they aren't fully conscious.
it's how people have always been, the people who have been deaf dumb blind cattle for thousands of years are what the world is built on
I'm not saying it's good or bad that that's the way the world is, I'm just saying the dream is moronic because the vast majority of people cannot participate on a biological level. So trying to shape society around it leads to ridiculous outcomes.
>3/4ths of people do not even have an internal monologue, anon.
The hell does that even mean?
>The hell does that even mean?
That inner voice you hear in your head that narrates your thoughts as spoken words?
Most people don't have that, they make every single decision based on a vague feeling they have without ever being able to have conscious input because they literally have no conscious thoughts.
lol
>That inner voice you hear in your head that narrates your thoughts as spoken words?
.....So basic cognitive thought? The ability to fricking think, self-reflect, and process information? You're saying 3/4ths of people don't have that? I find that hard to believe. I know stupid people are abundant, but god damn
>.....So basic cognitive thought? The ability to fricking think, self-reflect, and process information? You're saying 3/4ths of people don't have that? I find that hard to believe. I know stupid people are abundant, but god damn
The estimation was at 50-70% like a year ago, 75% is a newer number from a more recent study, but in both cases it's important to keep in mind that the people studied matter a lot there.
I.e. you're gonna get a lot lower numbers below the Sahara Desert.
I can't even wrap my head around that.
Everybody makes tons of unconscious decisions, it's not like you literally hear the words "I'm going to raise my fork" when you sit down to eat.
Most people just do everything like that and mostly live based on simply reacting to outside stimuli. If I were into theories like that I'd probably believe that souls are limited so not everybody gets one, causing literal npcs to fill the earth. But I don't think catholic doctrine would support that.
Well I looked up some articles responding to that comic. Reddit calls captain americas stance on free speech 'enlightened centrist bs'. I feel caps values. Even the ones you say he would have aren't exactly the ones of modern america. Which is actually pretty sad. I hope this isn't how most young people think about caps values.
I'd like to see a comic that leans into that with a captain america expy. Keep him a patriotic heroic american. But have him be so totally at odds with the values of the modern world that he's treated as a villain by the public and even by other superheroes but he refuses to change.
>I know that sounds pretty bad. But it made sense in the comic itself
Too young to have talked to any WWII veteran, I assume. Most of them were more than just benevolently neutral towards their former enemies after the 60s and 70s due to the societal changes of the time.
A more realistic captain would take a side at one point. Being from the 40s he'd have to take a moral stance on some of the crazier shit going on today. And being from that era he'd definitely lean conservative.
You've no idea how a man from 80 years ago would lean on an issue today. Anyway, Cap's always been about doing the right thing, politics or even orders be damned. He'd vote with his conscience first and foremost
>You've no idea how a man from 80 years ago would lean on an issue today.
There are less than two hundred thousand american world war two veterans left. Go ask one of them how they feel about the current era.
>not that Superman satires don't do that as well but it's more pointed with Cap.
I mean homelander is both a Superman and a Captain America parody. And Garth Ennis has made his hatred of the character well known in his many different writings.
Simply put. The more power a villain has, the scarier he is, and the more you root for the hero to take him down a peg. And who in fiction has more power than Superman?
>And who in fiction has more power than Superman?
There's a shit ton of more powerful beings in DC alone. We're not talking about power levels at all, and your obsession with them is a detriment to storytelling and the discussion as a whole
>There's a shit ton of more powerful beings in DC alone.
I'm just saying that's the common conception. Not that it's true.
These days, a genuinely helpful and friendly Superman is the subversion and twist from all norms.
What did this guy do wrong again? He was slightly racist?
Is he dead already? I dropped the slop after season 1.
I think he ended up getting frozen again after the Boys turned on him, because they decided that Soldier Boy fighting criminals was racism and that was worse than whatever the frick Homelander is up to.
He's basically Homelander in terms of vanity but not a pussy/manchild.
He got gassed and put in storage again because he's impossible to kill.
Besides Butcher's bullshit promise to Ryan, I think realized that if left unchecked Soldier Boy could be arguably worse than Homelander because he doesn't have the same psychological hangups. That and he's a walking nuke
Did Butcher cuck out even harder and promise his wife's son he wouldn't kill Homelander so Ryan could grow up with his bio-dad?
>I mean he did kill an innocent nun because she might have been mind controlled.
I remember watching an out of context clip on youtube and from my recollection after Hughie gives Soldier Boy shit for it the priest who was with the nun attacked Hughie, which I took to justify Soldier Boy's actions.
But I'm the kind of chud that anything made in the last 6 or so years isn't for, so you'll have to tell me.
No I think it was a situation where he didn't want Ryan hating him, as it was crucial period where Ryan is still young and killing Homelander in front of him then and there would have been detriment to everyone involved. Butcher is still obsessed with killing Homelander, it's just bad timing. That and he realized Soldier Boy was slowly becoming a bigger problem. You can outsmart and manipulate Homelander because he's a fricking pathetic manchild, it's their greatest edge. But with Soldier Boy? He's a driven nutjob who can nuke a city block
Soldier Boy got taken out twice with what seems like trivial ease.
Does Homelander has a special weakness like the sleepytime gas they use to put Soldier Boy out and keep him on ice? Because it seems like Butcher's putting his wife's son's fee-fees over what's really important, or else Homelander just isn't really that bad a villain if Ryan's feelings are more important.
They were originally going to make him much worse. But the actor playing him threatened to walk if the didn't change the script because he didn't want to play a sexual predator.
I mean he did kill an innocent nun because she might have been mind controlled.
Soldier Boy was fricking based and the only good thing to come from the trainwreck that is the Boys' TV series
>They were originally going to make him much worse. But the actor playing him threatened to walk if the didn't change the script because he didn't want to play a sexual predator.
Based Jensen
>I'm not sure what the fascination is with the "Superman but bad" trope.
People want to believe that 'power corrupts' is a hard and fast rule.
Power reveals.
See the thing about that old saying is that it assumes Superman has never known what it is like to be without power. His Kryptonian abilities didn't manifest until like, puberty or senior year high school. The corrupt thing only works when people have power from the start, or have some sort of chip on their shoulder prior at the very least
Some people would use power for evil, others would use it for good. Most people would be somewhere in the middle.
I hate that comics tend to put villains and heroes into good and bad categories.
Why can't a superpowered guy just be selfish with morals that are a bit below average?
Or have very developed morals but pursue a goal or support a group that's simply not agreed with or cared about by the majority of the society?
Morality is fake made up bullshit. A Superman that ate children alive is not any more "evil" than the regular one.
Wow you're so cool and insightful
The American dream is dead and the wool has been taken off of our eyes
Most people now know America is corrupt and evil and as such Superman who is symbol of America reflects this shift in public perspective